Greetings Tarenti!

It has been too long since my last report, so there's a lot of stuff to go over here.

We're working on the long-awaited next round of events for Ravaged, which are slated to be announced at the end of this week. I hope you guys are all looking forward to it as much as I am!

Bosthirda Run-On

The grading hasn't been completed for the Bosthirda RO yet, but unfortunately neither of our two teams were able to reach the three posts per person limit so both teams will be disqualified. It's a really disappointing result. My team had a good story going by the end and very nearly squeaked in under the wire. We just really need to work on the whole not-waiting-until-the-last-minute thing.

I was reading something the other day that resonated deeply with me and I wanted to share it with you all. I think it speaks to Tarentum's current condition, and what we have to do next.

"There was one real reason, however, repeated over and over again in different words: It was a difficult challenge, perhaps impossible, and the other students would outdo them. Since all of them overestimated the competition, no one even showed up."

Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week

It's a fact: you can't win if you don't play. Tarentum's problem for the past few years is that we don't play. We pride ourselves on our ability to write, on being the darkest House, and having a rich history but when the competitions come along we don't show up. We had a tough time during the Crusade coming up with our eight person Special Forces teams. We had trouble fielding two RO teams and even though we technically did field two teams, some team members failed to post enough even with over two weeks to do it. 250 words is not very much; it's somewhat less than from the beginning of this report to this sentence. Writing that much three times over the course of two weeks should not present a challenge for anyone if you plan ahead a little and manage your time around your real life obligations.

That all being said, this is an online Star Wars club, not a job. It's for fun, and negative reinforcement doesn't really have a place here so I'll just ask you all to consider the following: almost every single one of you have told me at one time or another that you'd like to see Tarentum become a Clan again. We've stood on the sidelines and watched as Arcona, Naga Sadow, Taldryan and Plagueis all rose back to Clanhood. It's no secret how they did it: their members participate. They win. They contribute to the Dark Brotherhood as a whole. What have we done lately? What have you done?

"Do or do not. There is no try."

Yoda, Some Sci-Fi Movie

We have a lot of work to do. The time for talk is long past. If you want to be a Clan again, you have to do the competitions. Do as many as you possibly can, and do them the best you can. Don't think that being a Tarentae makes you exempt; we rely on you to show the rest of us how it's done. Don't be shy if you're newer or you don't feel like your skills are good enough. Ask for help if you need it but above all, practice! You can't win if you don't play, and you can't improve if you don't do the work. It's hard to be the best. If we ever want to be a Clan again, we need to show everyone that we want to be the best again.

An Undiscovered Country

The shuttle set down softly in one of the few clearings with level ground. The island was a craggy, mountainous expanse rising like claws out of the seas of Yridia II. Despite being one of the few areas of dry land on the planet it was largely unexplored because of its treacherous, wild terrain.

"What are we doing here, Boss?"

Frosty Romanae Tarentae stepped down the ramp first, peering out into the dense forest in all directions before his Quaestor and Aedile followed.

"This planet has very little dry land." Scion's voice had an unusual tone to it that sparked Frosty's attention. "I've never been here before, and after almost two years as Prince I felt it was time to fully inspect my domain. There's no telling when we may have a strategic need for a place like this."

The trio set out from the shuttle to explore the forest on foot.

Some duties that fall upon the Prince of Yridia are not so fun, like berating you guys for not participating enough. Another small few of them are the ones that make this job amazing. It is my distinct pleasure to announce that we have a new Baron in House Tarentum: Frosty Romanae Tarentae.

He has been a Tarentae and EQ3 for longer than I've been in Tarentum. During that time he has been in various positions, but he exemplifies the idea that you don't have to have a position to be a leader. He volunteers to help out on projects. He helps out our new guys. He brings home gold novae for gaming. He's an all around nice guy and I wish we had about 30 more of him.

After a great deal of discussion with the Tarentae, we have seen fit to grant Frosty the title of Baron and award him a land grant of the Carpates Romanae: a mountainous underwater estate, with the peaks of the mountains rising above the waters, filled with a lush forest full of wolves and other dark creatures. The most notorious, though, would be the sharks, killer whales, and other sea life that seem to protect the realm, and have their "home waters" in the realm.

We've left it up to Frosty to develop his new realm beyond that description into something to his liking.

The Tarentae and House Summit have one more surprise in store for Frosty in recognition of his service to Tarentum: a job. We have placed Frosty in charge of the protection and defense of the House Summit. This job comes with a place in Tarentum's Court and another title: Voivode. It's a slavic word that translates roughly to "Warlord". Congrats, Frosty!

ACC

The penultimate Dark Crusade event is on the way and it's going to be an ACC event. As Mav just announced the ACC currently has 70 members registered and is going to officially open back up "Soon™". So now would be a great time to get qualified for it and not miss out. To qualify you just need a valid character sheet, and to take the two ACC exams in the Shadow Academy. Get to it, guys!

Website

Finally, I'm putting together a Tarentum website. Raiju and I have been discussing a lot lately surrounding recruiting, and getting a message out that is uniquely Tarentum. The Dark Brotherhood's website is badass these days and I can't thank the SCL's office enough for the incredible effort they've put into it (as a software engineer myself, I totally understand what it took to get it to where it is today). One side effect of centralizing everything is that the units no longer have a unique and individualized presence on the web. Most of the reasons we had in the past for maintaining a unit-specific website are now taken care of for us: rosters, activity tracking, forums, the wiki... but something is lost by not having a place that differentiates us from the rest.

We have a few basic ideas at this point for what could go on the site (a blog, fiction archive, management and tracking for a few "unofficial" Tarentum things, and a couple other crazier ideas I'm going to avoid committing to at this early phase), but I'm opening the floor to suggestions to flesh it out. If you can think of something that would be cool to have on a Tarentum website, please let Raiju and I know and we'll consider it.

If you'd be interested in helping out, there are a few things we already know we'll need for this:

1. Graphics - I'm an awful artist, and while I can make a website do just about anything, I suck at making them look pretty. If you have web design skills or even just graphics skills that you'd like to donate, let me know. I'll get in touch with you a little down the road when we need something beyond Oberst mode on the site.
2. Writing - To have a blog, we'll need content. If you'd be interested in writing articles every so often for a Tarentum blog, let Raiju and I know.
3. Programming - If you're a programmer and know Java, I may be able to spin off some elements of the site for you to work on. Send me an email if you're interested and we can talk about the details. No need to be an expert, I'm happy to teach as time allows.

That's all for now, folks! Good night!